MAINSPRING

by Jay Lake

Tor

978-0-765-31708-7

320pp/$24.95/June 2007

In 1802, William Paley wrote a teleological treatise
entitled Natural Theology in
which he argued that if he found a watch, he would know that there was a
watchmaker and if he found a world he should therefore know that there is
a worldmaker, or God.This
argument has become known as the watchmaker analogy and Jay Lake takes it
to its extreme in his novel Mainspring.In Lakeís world, God is literally a watchmaker and the
Earth runs via an enormous clockwork mechanism.

One night in nineteenth century New Haven, apprentice
clockmaker Hethor Jacques is awoken in the middle of the night by a
visitation from the archangel Gabriel who gives Hethor a quest to find the
Key Perilous and wind the Earthís Mainspring.Not knowing what to do, he turned to his masterís son, who is
studying theology at Yale University. Hethor finds himself turned out by
his master, penniless.

The novel follows Hethors quest, not only for the Key
Perilous, but also for companions to assist him in the quest.Despite a promising start with assistance from a Yale librarian and
a ride into Boston, Hethor finds that just because he is on a divine quest
doesnít mean he is guaranteed assistance. In fact, there are powerful
elements at work to ensure that he is unable to find the Key Perilous and
the Mainspring. Much of the novel depicts Hethorís attempts to avoid his
enemies and find some assistance, which never seems to be where he expects
to find it.

In many ways, Hethorís quest is subordinate to
Lakeís world.As Hethor
travels from New Haven to Boston to the Wall that circles the Earth at the
Equator and provides the cogs that move the Earth through space to the
hemisphere beyond, Lake creates a world which is similar to our own, but
essentially different.Rather
than create an alternate history, Mainspring
is a parallel history.Despite
differences between Hethorís world and ours, such as Jesus being broken
on the wheel rather than crucified, the world has managed to get to a
recognizable place.

As the Earthís pacing slows down, a result of the
Mainspring not being wound, Hethorís quest takes him to the Southern
hemisphere, a world which is reminiscent in many ways, of the pulp fiction
of Robert E. Howard or Clark Ashton Smith.Of course, Lakeís prose is a great improvement on those earlier
authors whose lost world appeal he manages to channel in the jungles and
creatures Hethor finds that are unlike anything that exists in our own
southern hemisphere.

Lake does an excellent job of presenting the big idea
of the world in which Mainspring
is set. A strong theological and teleological discussion is never far from
the surface of the novel, made even more interesting by the fact that
Hethorís world is inhabited by angels, birdmen, apemen, and other
creatures which are not native to our own place and time. At the same
time, Lake doesnít sacrifice the story, following Hethorís quest to
its end and providing the reader with a satisfying conclusion.

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